News and Resources

New AHRQ Academy Resources Show How to Use Telehealth to Integrate Behavioral Health Services into Primary Care

The adoption and expansion of telehealth in primary care and behavioral health has taken place rapidly as a means to provide ongoing patient care during the COVID-19 pandemic, and…

Opportunity for Submissions: Cross-cultural Strategies to Address Brain and Mental Health in Underserved Populations

  Submission Deadline:  February 1, 2022 Globally, older adults face unique health challenges threatening their ability to maintain their health and mental wellbeing, financial…

AHRQ Web Conference on Digital Healthcare Lessons Learned from the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is hosting a free web conference on July 1, 2021 from 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. ET to discuss how digital healthcare has been affected by the…

New Webinar on Primary Care Research Challenges during COVID-19

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has released a new webinar focusing on lessons learned about conducting primary care research during the COVID-19 epidemic from grantees…

HHS Releases New Buprenorphine Guidelines

In an effort to get evidenced-based treatment to more Americans with opioid use disorder (OUD), the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has released new buprenorphine…

Special Emphasis Notice (SEN): AHRQ Announces Interest in Health Services Research to Address Substance Use Disorder Epidemic

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) seeks health services research grant applications to advance our Nation's understanding of the substance use disorder (SUD) crisis…

AHRQ Addresses Unhealthy Alcohol and Opioid Use as Growing Problems in Older Adults

The Generations Journal of the American Society on Aging published a special issue addressing the growing problem of substance use in older adults. This quarterly journal focuses on the…

Opioid Epidemic and COVID-19 Pandemic: OUD Treatment via Telehealth

In a survey of primary care clinicians, one-third of respondents reported an increase in patients with substance use disorder during the COVID-19 pandemic. Preliminary data indicate the…

Opioid Epidemic and COVID-19 Pandemic: Deepening Disparities

This JAMA Network article warns of the “synergistic effects” of the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid epidemic and how those effects will exacerbate existing health disparities. Some…

Opioid Epidemic and COVID-19 Pandemic: Dual Crises

A recent USA Today opinion piece posed a pressing question: “America is still in the middle of an opioid epidemic. Why did we stop talking about it?” Here is a brief recap of the opioid…

Medications for Addiction Treatment Retention in Adults With Opioid Use Disorder – Rapid Evidence Review

Nearly 50,000 Americans die annually from opioid overdose. While we know that medications for addiction treatment (MAT) save lives, retaining patients in MAT programs is difficult. The…

Behavioral Health Challenges Related to COVID-19

During late June 2020, 40 percent of U.S. adults reported struggling with mental health or substance use issues. Among those experiencing disproportionately worse behavioral health…

National Academies Address Integrated Behavioral Health in Primary Care

The Forum on Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) hosted a virtual public workshop on primary care approaches…

Evidence Base for Telehealth

As part of healthcare transformation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, telehealth has greatly expanded. Many see this rapid expansion of telehealth not only as a solution to the…

** COVID-19 - Institutional Strategies To Enhance the Well Being of Healthcare Workers

A recent commentary in the Annals of Internal Medicine addresses the negative physical and psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers (HCWs). The authors share…

New Grants - HRSA’s Addiction Medicine Fellowship Program

On June 5, 2020, The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), awarded $20.3 million to 44 recipients,…

Essential Care for Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Patients

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will host a two-part webinar series examining approaches to help ease delivery of key components of care for people with…

New Reports Examine Effectiveness and Harm of Pain Treatment

Three new AHRQ-funded reports assess the effectiveness and harm of different kinds of chronic pain treatments. These systematic reviews present the current state of the science on…

**COVID 19 - Breaking Down Barriers to Treating OUD Pandemic

A recent blog post published by Health Affairs describes some of the barriers patients face trying to access opioid agonist therapy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Many such therapies…

**Rural Hospitals Battling To Stay Alive During the COVID-19 Pandemic

A recent article published in The Guardian describes some of the hardships rural hospitals in the United States are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the pandemic has severely…